Sharon:

Manfred was my father's brother. Karl Hoffman was German. Many Germans, Jewish and Polish have similar or the same last names. Sometimes the Jewish names have "sky" at the end as opposed to "ski" at the end for polish. Manfred did not want his mother to remarry so he lied about his age and went into the Army. Karl Hoffman lost his wife and young daughter to an illness. My grandmother was a friend of theirs, she would help take care of them and she had lost my grandfather when he was 47 years old. Karl Hoffman was my father and my mother's boss at the company they worked for. Manfred was upset that she remarried. When they found out how old he was he was sent home. He carried on so that my grandmother agreed to sign for him. Three months later he was killed in his first battle.

Dotty